Thumb turn for unlocking lockset



March 27, 1962 E. L. SCHLAGE THUMB TURN FOR UNLOCKING LOCKSET Filed July 15, 1959 INVENTOR. ERNEST L. SCHLAG'E United States Patent Ofi 3,027,183 Patented Mar. 27, 1962 3,027,183 THUMB TURN FOR UNLOCKIN G LOCKSET Ernest L. Schlage, Burlingame, Califi, assignor to Schlage Lock Company, a corporation Filed July 13, 1959, Ser. No. 826,713 3 Claims. (Cl. 292-140) This invention relates to locksets and more particularly to a means adapted to retract the bolt of a lockset but which will not operate in the reverse direction to throw the bolt.

In certain lock installations it is desirable to be able to lock and unlock a door from the outside but permit unlocking only from inside. For example, in a classroom or storage room of a school in which valuable materials are stored it is necessary to provide a strong lock which may be locked or unlocked from outside the door but which may not be locked from inside. By such an arrangement an unauthorized person or a child cannot enter the room and lock out those in authority. However, in the event a person is in a room, the door of which is locked from the outside, it is necessary that such person is enabled to open the door by a manually operable thumb turn or the like in the case of an emergency.

The main object of the present invention is the provision of an improved unlocking means which is adapted to unlock a locked door and which means may not be operated to lock the door.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a one Way unlocking means which lends itself to use with a deadbolt such as is employed in mortise locks.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a one way thumb turn for use in retracting deadbolts and which thumb turn is reversible for use on either left or right hand doors.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a one way thumb turn which is readily adjusted to suit the hand of the door in which it is to be installed.

Other objects and advantages will be seen from the following specification and from the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a portion of the edge of a door showing the deadbolt, the key actuated cylinder, and the thumb turn;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section through the lock as taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1 and showing the bolt and retractor in a projected position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary View similar to FIG. 2 showing the operating arm of the thumb turn in a position at which it is commencing to retract the retractor;

PEG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the retractor in retracted position;

PEG. 5 is a vertical cross section of the invention showing the associated operating arm and thumb turn in elevation;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section through the operating shaft as taken along lines 66 of FIG. 5 showing the invention in elevation;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the manner in which rotation of the operating arm in a locking direction is prevented;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but with the invention adjusted for use with a door of opposite hand;

FIG. 9 is a cross section through the housing showing a modified form of adjustment for doors of opposite hand.

In detail, and with reference first to FIG. 1, the invention is adapted to be employed on a door 1 having an edge 2 to which a faceplate 3 is secured. Faceplate 3 is provided with a rectangular opening 4 through which a bolt 5 is adapted to project when mechanism is in locked condition.

his invention will be illustrated with reference to a mortise lock having a housing 6 within which the bolt 5 is reciprocably mounted. in the example illustrated the bolt 5 is secured to a retractor generally designated 7 which is reciprocably supported on the lower side of housing 6 for movement from the projected position of FIG. 2 to the retracted position of FIG. 4.

The present invention includes a cylindrical housing generally designated 1i (FlGS. 2, 5) which is adapted to be received through a bore 11 (FIG. 1) from the inside face of the door 1 and secured in a corrrespondingly shaped hole in housing 6. Cylindrical housing it is provided with an unlocking member generally designated 12 (FIG. 5) which carries an integral boss 13 by which said member is rotatably supported in a complementarily formed bore in housing Ill. On the inner end of boss 13 is an operating arm 14 which, upon rotation of member 12 in the direction indicated in FIGS. 2, 3, engages retractor 7 and slides the same inwardly of the housing to retract the bolt 5.

The retractor 7 is also actuatable from the outer side of the door by means of a cylinder 17 (FIG. 1) which is received within bore 11 in door It and which is also provided at its inner end with an operating arm (not shown) similar to arm 14. The rotatable plug of cylinder l7 which carries the operating arm may be actuated by a key 1?.

For the purpose of securing cylinder 17 and housing it against rotation, a holding device 21! is provided to engage grooves in said cylinder and housing. The exact construction of such device is not pertinent to the present invention and no claim is made thereto or to the retractor means except in combination with the invention. It will be apparent that the operation of the invention does not depend upon the particular type of lock construction involved.

As best seen in FIG. 5, a shaft 23 of square or other noncircular cross section extends into a complementarily formed hole 24 in unlocking member 12 and is rotatably supported in an inside rose 2 5 (FIG. 5) which in turn is secured to the inner side of door 1. Shaft 23 terminates in a turn button 26 by means of which the unlocking member 12 and its associated arm 14 may be rotated.

Referring again to FIGS. 24, the upright position of arm 14 may be considered the neutral position and it will be noted that upon counterclockwise rotation of said arm its outer end serves to depress a link 30 which is urged to the upper position of FIG. 2 by a compression spring 31 housed within the boxed end of retractor 7. As stated above, the exact structure of retractor 7 makes no difference to the operation of the invention as long as it is formed so that rotation of the arm 14 as indicated in FIGS. 24 retracts the same.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7 the unlocking member 12 is provided with a recess 33 on its periphery to provide a shoulder 34 which is adapted to engage the free end 35 of a detent 36 mounted on housing 10. It will be noted in FIG. 7, keeping in mind that clockwise rotation of member 12 in FIG. 7 retracts the bolt 5, that the shoulder 34 cooperating with detent 36 prevents engagement of arm 14 in the direction required to project the bolt. However, the detent 36 olfers no impediment to rotation of the member 12 to retract the bolt.

By the present invention the unlocking member is adapted to be used with both right and left hand doors. In other words, retraction of the bolt may be effected by rotation of the unlocking member 10 in either direction. To this end the detent 36 is formed so as to con stitute one-half of a generally U-shaped member generally designated 40 having a pair of legs or detents 36,

3 37 and secured centrally of said detents to housing 10 by means of rivet 38 (FIG. 6).

The member 40 is preferably formed of spring steel so that the detents 36, 37 are urged toward each other by their own resiliency. Thus, in the operation above described, the detent 36 is urged at all times against the periphery of unlocking member 12.

The recess 33 (FIG. 6) in member 12. also provides a shoulder 39 which is adapted to cooperate with detent 37 to prevent rotation of the member 12. in a clockwise direction.

However, for the condition shown in FIG. 6 wherein clockwise rotation retracts the bolt, it is necessary to render detent 3'. inoperative'so as not to interfere with such rotation. This may be done by means of a screw 43 which is screwed into a threaded hole in housing 10 and which hole is positioned so that the head of screw 43 holds detent 37 away from member 12 and thus prevents engageinentwith shoulder 39. However, if the device isused in a lockset installation requiring counterclockwise rotation (FIG. 6) of member 12 to retract the bolt it is merely necessary to remove screw 43 and secure it in a similar hole 44 so as to render detent 36 inoperative. In such a case detent 37 cooperates with shoulder 39 to prevent projection of the bolt 5.

In order to avoid the necessity of removing screw' 43 completely one of the detents may be held in inoperative position by the structure shown in FIG. 9. In this case a bar 50 is provided between the detents-36, 37 and isv secured to housing by means of a screw 51 which is passed through an elongated slot 52 centrally of bar 50. One or more projections 53 on bar Share adapted to be received in complementarily formed holes in housing 10 when the screw 51 is tightened. When it is desired todisable detent 37 instead of detent-36 it is merely necessary to-loosen screw 51 sufficiently to permit bar 50 to be moved to the left so that projections 53 are received in other holes 55 in housing 10 in which position the bar, when secured in place, disables detent 37.

It will be understood that the invention has been described in connection with the particular lock shown merely for illustrative purposes and may obviously be employed with other types of locks by making adjustments in design known'to those skilled in the art.

Nor is the particular embodiment of the'invention hereinbefore described in detail -to-be taken as restrictive of the invention but only as one preferredform thereof. It being apparent that various modifications in design may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a lockset provided with a bolt mounted for movement from an inner retracted position to an outer projected position, unlocking means for said lockset comprising: a housing, a bolt actuating member rotatably mounted in said housing and provided with a bolt actuating element for retracting said bolt when said member is rotated in one direction, a first shoulder formed on said member, a first detent carried by said housing and adapted to engage said shoulder for preventing rotation of said member in the opposite direction while permitting rotation in said one direction, a second shoulder on said member and a second detent carried by said housing for interengagement when the direction of rotation of said member for retracting the bolt is reversed, and means for rendering one'of said detents inoperative relative to its associated shoulder.

2. In a lockset provided with a bolt mounted for movement from an inner retracted position to an outer projected position, unlocking means for said lockset comprising: a housing, a bolt actuating member rotatably mounted in said housing and provided with a bolt actuating element for retracting said bolt when said member is rotated in one direction, a first shoulder formed on said member, a first detent carried by said housing and adapted to engage said shoulder for preventing rotation 'of said member in the opposite direction while permitting rotation in said one direction, a second shoulder on said member and a second detent carried by said housing for interengagement when the direction of rotation or saidmember for retracting the bolt is reversed, and means for rendering one of said detents inoperative relative to its associated shoulder, said first and second detents being formed of a unitary length of material secured to said housing intermediate the ends thereof.

3.. In a lockset provided with a bolt mounted for movement from an inner retracted position to an outer projected position, unlocking means for said lockset comprising: a housing, a bolt actuating member rotatably mounted in said housing and provided with a bolt actuating element for retracting said bolt when said member is rotated in one direction, a first shoulder formed on said member, a first detent carried by said housing and adapted to engage said shoulder for preventing. rotation of said member in the opposite direction while permitting rotation in said one direction, a second shoulder on said member and a second detent carried by said housing for interengagement when the direction of rotation of said member for retracting the bolt is reversed, and means for rendering one of said detents inoperative relative to its 45 associated shoulder, said last mentioned means comprison said housing for preventing engagement of one or ing a stop adapted to be secured in one of two positions the other of said detents with its corresponding shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 966,970 Weed Aug. 9, 1910 1,381,395 Bock June 14, 1921 2,380,708 Schlage et a1. July 31, 1945 2,616,738 Jewett Nov. 4, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 43,109 Germany May 18, 1888 

